New scam: Person claiming to be Toby Keith on social media duped elderly man out of money

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LORAIN, Ohio — Police are warning the public about a scam where the suspect claims to be a country music superstar in order to get money out of his victims.

According to Lorain police, on March 5, 2018, they were notified of a resident who said they were scammed by someone claiming to be Toby Keith on Twitter. The victim had made posts on social media regarding financial troubles he was having.

That’s when someone who said he was Toby Keith replied to his tweets and gave the victim a phone number to text. In the texts, the fraudster claimed he would help the victim pay off his credit cards. The victim then provided the suspect with his credit card information and soon found that “deposits” had been made to pay off the cards.

In exchange, the suspect convinced the victim to repay him with $500 in iTunes gift cards.

After a few days, the victim found that the “deposits,” which paid off the credit cards were revoked, and the original balances were still outstanding. That’s when he realized he was scammed.

The police department warns:

“As always, we remind our citizens that when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Do not divulge your personal financial details to anonymous persons on the internet. And do not trust anyone who demands payment in gift cards. Scammers demand payment in some form of gift card in the majority of scam cases via the internet or telephone that are reported to our department.

As with most of these complaints, the victim in this case was a senior citizen. Please take the time to talk to your elderly friends, neighbors, and relatives who are not internet savvy and warn them of this trend.”